Reference-Tissue Correction of T_2-weighted Signal Intensity for Prostate Cancer Detection

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether correction with respect to reference tissue of T_2-weighted MR-image signal intensity (SI) improves its effectiveness for classification of regions of interest (ROIs) as prostate cancer (PCa) or normal prostatic tissue. Two image datasets collected retrospectively were used in this study: 71 cases acquired with GE scanners (dataset A), and 59 cases acquired witjh Philips scanners (dataset B). Through a consensus histology-MR correlation review, 175 PCa and 108 normal-tissue ROIs were identified and drawn manually. Reference-tissue ROIs were selected in each case from the levator ani muscle, urinary bladder, and pubic bone. T_2-weighted image SI was corrected as the ratio of the average T_2-weighted image SI within an ROI to that of a reference-tissue ROI. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of T_2-weighted image SIs for differentiation of PCa from normal-tissue ROIs. AUC (± standard error) for uncorrected T_2-weighted image SIs was 0.78±0.04 (datasets A) and 0.65±0.05 (datasets B). AUC for corrected T_2-weighted image SIs with respect to muscle, bladder, and bone reference was 0.77±0.04 (p=1.0), 0.77±0.04 (p=1.0), and 0.75±0.04 (p=0.8), respectively, for dataset A; and 0.81±0.04 (p=0.002), 0.78±0.04 (p＜0.001), and 0.79±0.04 (p＜0.001), respectively, for dataset B. Correction in reference to the levator ani muscle yielded the most consistent results between GE and Phillips images. Correction of T_2-weighted image SI in reference to three types of extra-prostatic tissue can improve its effectiveness for differentiation of PCa from normal-tissue ROIs, and correction in reference to the levator ani muscle produces consistent T_2-weighted image SIs between GE and Phillips MR images.